from the conferences organized by TANGER Ltd.
Thin film solar technology is used in various devices that convert the sun light into electrical energy. These applications have been crucial for human life since they supply us clean and alternative energy sources. For this application many components can be used such as Cu2S, CdTe, CIGS, CNTS, and TiO2, etc. TiO2 is one of them and preferable for this technology because of its good electrical and physical properties. TiO2 based solutions that are completely transparent are coated on Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) coated glass with different pH values, by using sol gel dip coating method. This coated glass are annealed with the same temperature and the same holding time. Previous research shows that pH factor has significant effect on the surface morphology of films. Surface area and surface roughness are pH dependent parameters that are very important for light conversion efficiency.In this study, the effect of pH on thin film surface morphology is investigated. Five different pH value sols are coated on ITO glass. These glasses annealed in the furnace with the same temperatures and the same holding times. The results are determined with several methods. Chemical properties are determined by X-ray photoelectron scanning (XPS), X ray diffraction scanning (XRD) surface properties and roughness values are investigated by atomic force microscopy (AFM), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM)-focused ion beam technique (FIB). The XPS and XRD results show that, because of the low working temperatures there is not any change in the chemical structure of TiO2. The material that we study is glass. Above 600°C chemical structure of the glass can be deteriorated. We carried out our experiments below this temperature. According to the results of AFM, pH is an important factor on the film morphology. The results showed that if the pH increases, the surface roughness parameter (Ra) also increases.
Keywords: TiO2, thin film, pH, surface area, surface roughness© This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.